Apparatus for handling materials



Nov. 28, 1933. G. L. FISK APPARATUS FOR HANDLING MATERIALS Filed Oct. 3. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR a/bvnlh Nov. 28, 1933. G. FISK APPARATUS FOR HANDLING MATERIALS Filed Oct. 3, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 28, 1933 pNirEo "STATES PATENTJ'TOFFICE;

I 1,937,194 I I APPARaTUsroR HANDLING'MATERIALS' Gustaf L. Fisk, Pittsburgh, P anor, to Mesta Machine Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a II corporation of lflennsylvania Application Gotebor 1930. 'Serial N0.'-' 486,194

19 Claims; motto- .42)

The present invention relates broadlyto the art oimaterial handling, and more particularly to this art as applicable to the handling of metallic shapes, articles or bodies. II I In the art to which the present invention relates it is customary to provide'rolling mill installations with cooling beds on which the rolled material may be cooled to the required extent and thereafter conveyed to shears eiiective for iearing the material into the required lengths; Grdinarily such an installation includes a single cooling bed with a single shear. Under conditions of normal operation in which the rolled material is not required to be sheared into short lengths, the single shear can satisfactorily handle the output of the mill. Where, howeven'the specifications require shearing to shorter lengths, theshear cannot dispose of the material as rapidly as it is produced by the mill. This means that the mill output is controlled or limited by the shear capacity. I I

In an efiort to obviate this objection,it has heretofore been proposed to provide cooling .beds of double or substantially double the normal size and effective for feeding material in either direction from a substantially central point. The material discharged in either'directionis then fed to an individual. shear so that when one shear becomes crowded, ,the other shear may be set into operation. Suchan installation in reality is a mere duplication of the ordinary system, and is open to the objection that it requires just twice the floor area. During ordinary conditionsof operatiomwhich conditions may represent considerably more than half of the time,the extra equip ment including the floor space covered thereby, represents substantially a loss.

I It is one of the objects ofthe present invention to provide an improved system inwhich th'ecapacity of the mill is not controlled by shear limitations and in which the shearing capacity may be made ample to satisfactorily shear the material without necessitating the use of un usually largecooling beds. In this manner the initial expense of installation, as well as the compactness of the system and ease of handling the material is such as to commend itself to .the user. I In the accompanying drawings there are shown for purposes of illustration only; certain preferred embodiments ofthe'present invention. In'the drawings: I I

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the finishing end of a rolling mill illustrating a system embodying the present invention, the'showing'of the figure being largely diagrammatic;

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view, on an enlarged scale, along the line II II of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 butillus well known construction and of such length as'to trating the apparatus in longitudinal section along the line III-1110f Figure l or III III of Figure 2; I I I I a ure 4 is a View similar to Figure l illustrating a slightly different embodimentof the pres-1 ent invention; I

Figure 5'is a partial top plan view illustrating a different form of shear arrangement; and FigureS is, a View similar to Figure 5 showing still another form of shear arrangement particularly adapted forthe installation of Figure 4.

Referring more particularly toFigures 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, the invention is illustrated as comprising stands '2, 3 and 4 of a rolling mill, through which stands the material being rolled is adapted to pass substantiallyalong the path indicated by the. arrows A. The rolling operation having been completed, the; material leaves the'last stand 'of rolls 4 andpa'sses onto a conveyor 5 of suitable construction by means of which it, is conveyed longitudinally away from therollingmill. I I: I

Cooperating ,with the longitudinal conveyor 5 is a cooling bed 6 which may be of any usual. or

ill

satisfactorily handle rods, bars, or the like of the length produced by the mill. In'Figure l, I have illustratedfa series of rods 7 in position ori'the cooling bed. For effecting transverse, continuousor intermittent travel of the bars '7 in a direction as indicated by the arrow B transversely of the cooling bed, there may be provided material moving means of any preferred type. The coolingbed is of such width that by the timethe articles have traversed the 'same,'they have been reduced to a temperature such that they may be collected andsubjected to subsequent operations. For this purposeI have illustrated adjacent the cooling bed 6a supplemental cooling bed 8-having a series of bars 9 thereonin closely adjacent relationship. ,I I I I Cooperating with the collecting platform. or cooling bed 8 isaconv'eyor 10 adapted to receive rolled materials'from the bed Sand move the same longitudinally in the direction indicated by the arrow 0. Asis customary in the art, and as illustrated more particularly in Figure 2 of the drawings, the conveyor 10 comprises a series of rolls ll adapted to be driven in any desired manner for eifecting the longitudinal travel of material thereover. J Constituting a longitudinal continuation of the conveyor l0 is a conveyor 12 which may be of the same general construction, but is of such dimensions as to carry rolledmaterial beyond the end of-the beds 6 and Sand deliver the same to a shear 14 which may be'of any usual 'construction. The material having been sheared, it is received by a conveyor 15 and discharged onto a ree 16,

Under normal conditions of operation where the material being rolled is sheared into comparatively long lengths, the shear 14 is effective for shearing the entire output of the mill. Where, however, shorter lengths are produced, the capacity of the shear may impose a limit on the rate of rolling. This is obviated in accordance with the present invention by providing a second conveyor 17 parallel and adjacent to the conveyor 10 and adapted to deliver material to a second shear 18 which in turn discharges to a conveyor 19 and thence onto arack 20. The conveyor 17, like the conveyor 10, comprises a series of rolls 21, the relation of which is illus trated more particularly in Figure 3, and which have platform sections22 therebetween and defining, together with the rolls, the plane of travel of the material.

7 Extending between the rolls 11 and 21 of the respective conveyors is a transverse surface 23 over which material is adapted to slide in being transferred from the conveyor 10 to the conveyor 17., For effecting this transfer there may be provided a series of bars 24 carried from longitudinally extending beams 25 through the medium of brackets 26. The beams 25 are in turn secured toone'of the arms of bell cranks 27, the opposite arms of which are secured to connecting rods 28. These connecting rods when moved in the direction indicated by the arrow D will be effective for raising the beams 25 and thereby the bars 24 from their lower position as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 of the drawings into an upper position. In this upper position car riages 29 on the'bars 24 will be effective for en gaging material on the rolls 11 and raising the same therefrom. Thereafter the carriages may be moved in the direction indicated by the arrow E through the medium of links 30 and cranks 31 for transferring material onto the conveyor 1'7.

The transfer having been effected, the connecting rod 28 will be moved in the opposite direction, the beams 25 lowered, and the carriages 29 returned to their full line position of Figure 2 ready for a succeeding transfer operation. The transfer mechanism is such that theorderly arrangement of the bars previously effected on the bed section 8 may be maintained either on the conveyor 10 or the conveyor 17. At the beginning of the operation, bars to be sheared are delivered first from the cooling-bed section 8 to the conveyor 10, then by the transfer mechanism de' scribed, to the conveyor 17. The shearing operation in the shears 18 may thus be started while additional bars are being delivered' to the conveyor 10 and thence to the conveyor 12 for the shear 14.

Inasmuch as the shearing operations are usually identical, and would therefore normally require approximately the same amount of time, the shears 18 will have completed their shearing operation prior to the time that the shears 14 have completely sheared the bars which were later delivered thereto. If the shear 14 were close to the end of the cooling bed,.as would'be the case if the additional conveyor 12 were not provided, the bars remaining on the conveyor 10 and awaiting shearing would interfere with the transfer ofbars onto theconveyor 17 for a succeeding shearing operation, and it would be necessary to await completion of the shearing by the shears 14. Thereafter the shear 14 would remain idle while a fresh set of bars was being transferred onto the conveyor 1'7, as will be readily apparent.

By the construction shown, however, this dc-i lay is obviated and it is possible to maintain both of the shears continuously in operation. The time required to actually transfer bars from the cooling bed section 8 onto the conveyor 17 for the shears 18, the time required to transfer bars from the bed section 8 to the conveyor 10 for the shears l4, and the time required to advance the bars onthe conveyors 10 and 12 are comparatively short compared with the actual time required for shearing. The conveyor 12 provides a space for .ie unsheared ends of the bars to project back of the shear 14 when the shearing operation in shear 18 is nearly complete, so that bars may be transferred from the section 8 onto the conveyor 17 without any delay to the shear 18. This transfer will then be complete before the time the shearing operation by the shears 14 is completed, so that the conveyor 10 in front of the bed section 8 will be clear and ready to receive bars without any delay to the shears 14.

It will thus be'seen that with a cooling bed of substantially the same dimensions as ordinarily provided, and therefore one which occupies a minimum of space and represents a minimum of investment, I am able to accomplish the same results which have heretofore required the installation of an expensive double bed and a large amount of space. I am likewise able to effect all of the desired movements of the material without the use of any special material handling cranes, and therefore without interference with the cranes usually provided and extending over the entire building area and used for making repairs and changes to the mill and for handling the finished products thereof. The use of special or intermediate cranes for the material itself would interfere wtih the cranes usually provided and involve other complications which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

In many mills where a large range of sizes of products is being rolled, it is frequently desirable to finish rolling bars in different roll stands, and to provide separate cooling beds for the smaller and larger bars respectively. In Figure 4 there is illustrated a modified embodiment of my invention particularly adapted for use under such circumstances. In this figure there are shown stands. 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, and 46 of a rolling mill through which material is adapted to be rolledin the direction indicated by the arrows F. In case thematerial is being rolled through all of the roll stands, it will upon discharge from the last stand 46 be delivered onto a conveyor 5 corresponding to conveyor 5 before described, and thence be subjected to o erations similar to those set forth in connection with the showing of Figure 1, by means of parts corresponding to the parts already described and designated by the same reference characters having a prime affixed thereto. The principal difference in the system of Figure '4 resides in the fact that in'case it is desired to take off heavier sections from intermediate stands, there may be provided a supplemental conveyor 47 for this purpose adapted to deliver to a cooling bed 48 which discharges onto a cooling bed or bed section 49. Since it is desired not to unnecessarily duplicate the number of conveyors, the conveyors 10 and 17' are extended in length so as to cooperate not only with the bed section 8 but also with the bed section 49.

The cooling bed 48 on account of the shorter bars which it will be called upon to handle, will be shorter than the cooling bed 6, and on account of the arrangement of the mill stands and cooling b d will be wider than the corresponding cooling bed 6. The extra width of the cooling bed 48 is required not only on account of the arrangement of the mill stands and the cooling beds, but for the reason that the capacity of a cooling bed is approximatelyproportional to the area.

In designing a rolling mill with its accessory equipment, including cooling beds, the production rate of the mill for bars finished in the stand 42, for example, would be the sameas, ormore probably greater than, for bars finished in the stand 46. Therefore the area of the cooling bed 48 should be equal to or greater than the area of the cooling bed 6. Heretoforein order to obtain the full mill capacity at all times, it would have been customary to I provide the stand 46 with a double cooling bed as before described, and to also provide a double cooling bed for the stand 42, thus requiring a total of four cooling beds and four shears. The present inventionreduces this equipment, and consequently the floor space and expense to approximately one-half.

In Figure 5 there is illustrated an arrangement of conveyors and shears adapted to the layout shown in Figure 1, but diifering therefrom in that the shear 50 corresponding to the shear 18 is at a greater distance from the cooling bed than is the shear 18, so as to provide a space in front of the shear similar to the space before described and existing in front of the shear 14. This extra space might in some cases be desirable in case of delay in shearing a lot of bars by shear 18 as shown in Figure 1. In case of such delay, the space shown in Figure 5 would permit a succeeding lot of bars to be transferred onto the i conveyor 51, corresponding to the conveyor 1'? of Figure 1, before the shearing operation by the shears 50 was actually completed. In this manner, delay in delivery of bars is prevented. In this arrangement also, the rack 52, corresponding to the rack 20 of Figure 1, is located on the opposite side of the shear conveyor 53 whereby the overall dimension of the installation is reduced. It will also be apparent to those skilled in the art that this arrangement of racks is extremely desirable for the reason that it facilitates the handling of material from the racks. The cooling bed is frequently located adjacent one side of the mill building, and an arrangement such as illustrated in Figure 5 makes both of the racks accessible by crane, for example, without the necessity of lifting over any tables or other equipment.

In Figure 6 there is shown an arrangement similar to that shown in Figure 5 but applied to the arrangement of cooling beds illustrated more the shearing of material, the principle of the. in

vention and some of the advantages are obtainable in case substitution of other mechanism is made for the shears themselves. Thus it may be desired in some cases to replace the shears by straighteners operating on the material and necessarily having a straightening speed which is below the ordinary rolling speed. In such case material may be alternately delivered to the conveyors and straighteners whereby the output-of the mill .is not retarded.

From the foregoing specification it will be apparent that the present invention possesses many advantages not only with respect to decrease in the cost of the installation, saving of fioor space, ease of mate ial handling and lack of interference with mill cranes as usually provided, but also with respect to compactness, shear emciency, and adaptability to'present installations.

While I have herein illustrated and described certain preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be apparent that changes in the construction and operation disclosed may be made without departing either from the spirit of the invention or the scope or" my broader claims.

' I claim:

l. The combination with. a cooling bed, of a conveyor for delivering material to one side thereof, a plurality of substantially parallelly extending conveyors arranged for conveying material fromthe opposite side thereof, and a fixedly positioned shear cooperating with each of said last mentioned conveyors, said shears being respectively located different distances from the cooling bedin the direction of travel of the material passing from the bed to the shears 2. The combination with a plurality of coolingbeds, or a rolling mill including a plurality of stands, conveying means from different of said stands todifierent beds, and a conveying system common to all oi said beds for conveying material therefrom in the direction of delivery from the mill.

3. The combination wither-plurality of cooling beds, of a rolling mill including a plurality of stands, conveying means from difierent of said stands to different beds, and a conveying system common to all of said beds for conveying material therefrom in the direction of delivery from the mill, there being a plurality of shears cooperating with said conveying system.

4:. The combination with a plurality of cooling beds, of a rolling mill including a plurality of stands, conveying means from different of said stands to'difieren't'beds, and a conveying system common to all of said beds for conveying material therefrom in the direction 01 delivery from the mill, there being a plurality of shears cooperating with said conveying system and located at different. distances respectively from the cooling beds inthe direction of travel of the material thereto.

5. The combination with a plurality of cooling beds, of a rolling mill including a plurality of stands, conveying means from different of said stands to different beds, and a conveying system common to all of said beds for conveying material therefrom in the direction of delivery from the mill, there being a plurality of shears cooperating with said conveying system, said system including a plurality of substantially parallelly extending conveyors having material transfer therefrom in the direction of travel of material across the bed for working on material received from said bed, said working means being located at longitudinally difierent distances therefrom in the direction of travel of the material thereto with the means having the least lateral offset ll from the bed the most remote longitudinally therefrom. r

'7. The combination with a single cooling bed, of a plurality of shears, and means for transferring material from said cooling bed to any of said shears, said means includin a plurality of fixed substantially parallelly extending conveyors located in a common plane adjacent one side of the cooling bed with a shear cooperating with each of said conveyors and located respec tively at different distances longitudinally from the cooling bed in the direction of travel of material thereto. I

8. The combination with a cooling bed,'of a plurality of fixedly positioned shears for shearing material received from said bed, said shears being located on the same side of the bed and laterally oifset therefrom and at diiferent distances therefrom in the direction of travel of material passing from the bed to the shears, with the shear laterally offset the least from the bed spaced the gr atest distance therefrom in said direction of travel.

9. The combination with a cooling bed; of

ieans for delivering material thereto, a plurality of means of different lengths for delivering material entirely from one side thereof, anda fixedly positioned sh ar cooperating with each of said last mentioned means, the means of greatest length being closest the cooling bed.

ii). The combination with a cooling bed, of means for delivering material thereto, a plurality of substantially parallelly disposed means for delivering material entirely from one side thereof, and a fixedly positioned shear cooperating with each of said last mentioned means, said shears being located on the same side of the bed and laterally offset therefrom and at different distances therefrom in the direction of travel of material passing from the bed to the shears, with the shear laterally offset the least" from the bed spaced the greatest distance therefrom in said direction of travel. I

11. The combination With a cooling bed, of a conveyor for delivering material to one side thereof, a plurality of substantially parallelly extending conveyors arrangedfor delivering material from the opposite side thereof, and a shear cooperating with each of said last mentioned conveyors, said shears being in longitudinally oifset relationship relative to the travel of the material to be sheared and laterally offset with respect to the bed, with the shear laterally offset the least from the bed spaced the greatest distance therefrom in a direction longitudinally of the bed.

12. The combination with a plurality of cooling beds, of a rolling mill including a plurality of stands, longitudinally extending conveying means from different of said stands to different beds, and a conveying system common to all of said beds for conveying material therefrom in a direction parallel' to 'he direction of delivery from themill.

13. The combination with a plurality of longitudinally offset cooling beds, of rolling mill including a plurality of stands, conveyingmeans from different of said stands to different beds, and a conveying system common to all of said beds for conveying material therefrom in a direction parallel to the direction of delivery from the mill, there being a plurality of shears cooperating with said conveying means.

1 1. The combination with a plurality of 10ngitudinally offset cooling beds, of a rolling mill including a plurality of stands, conveying means from different of said stands to different beds, and a conveying system common to all of said beds for conveying material therefrom in a direction parallel to the direction of delivery from the mill, there being a plurality of shears cooperating with said conveying means, said shears being laterally and'longitudinally offset.

15. The combination with a plurality of longitudinally offset cooling beds, of a rolling mill including a plurality of stands, conveying means from different of said stands to different beds, and a conveying system common to all of beds for conveying material therefrom'in a direction parallel to the direction of delivery iron. the mill, there being a plurality of shears cooperating with aid conveying system and located at different respectively from the cooling beds inthe direction of travel of material from the cooling beds to the shears.

16. The combination with a plurality of cool ing beds in longitudinally offset relationship, of a rolling mill including a plurality of stands, conveying means from diiferent of said stands to dif ferent beds, and a conveying system common to all of said beds for conveying material therefrom in a direction parallel to the direction of delivery from the mill, there being a plurality of shears cooperating with said conveying system, 5 id system including a plurality of substantially parallelly extending conveyors having material transfer means cooperating therewith and effective therebetvveen.

17. The combination with a plurality of cooling beds in longitudinally offset relationship, of a rolling mill including a plurality of stands, conveying means from different of said stands to different beds, and a conveying system common to all of said beds for conveying material therefrom in a direction parallel to the direction of delivery from the mill, there being a plurality of shears cooperating with said conveying system, said system including a plurality of substantially parallelly extending conveyors arranged in laterally oifset relationship and having material transfer means cooperating therewith and effective therebetween. 7

18. The combination with a cooling bed, of a conveyor for delivering material to one side thereof, a plurality of substantially parallelly extending conveyors rranged for conveying material from the opposite side thereof, and a shear cooperating With each of said last mentioned conveyors, said shears being offset different distances from said bed in the direction of movement of material along said conveyors.

19. The combination with a cooling bed, of a conveyor for delivering material to one side tl1ereof, a plurality of substantially parallelly extending conveyors arranged for conveying material from the opposite side thereof, a shear cooperating with each of said last mentioned conveyors, said shears being offset diiferent distances from said bed in the direction of movement of niateial along said conveyors, and transfer means intermediate said conveyors. V

GUSTAF L. FISK. 

